Month: April 2012

The Warriors announced Saturday center Andrew Bogut is out three months after successful arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle Friday.

Dr. Richard Ferkel cleaned out loose particles and bone spurs in the ankle. Bogut, who fractured the ankle on January 25 while with the Milwaukee Bucks, is expected to be ready in time for training camp in October. He will not play for his beloved Austrailia during the Summer Games in London.

Bogut, acquired by the Warriors on March 13, is the third Warriors starter to have surgery this week. All three are expected to be ready for camp. Point guard Stephen Curry had his frequently sprained right ankle cleaned out on Wednesday, also by Dr. Ferkel. Forward David Lee had successful surgery Thursday, performed by Dr. William Meyers in Philadelphia, to repair torn abdominal muscles and abductors.

It’s a couple days late, but here are the transcripts from new GM Bob Myers’ end-of-season presser. He covered a lot of topics, so it should be some good fodder for those who want a look into his insight.

Overall impressions of 2011-12

“It’s hard to lose. If you like to compete and win, on that level its been tough to lose this many games. But big picture we made some changes that will help us going forward. So moving ahead, I like where are. But going through the process of getting there has been tough.”

UPDATED: The Warriors will have better than a 70 percent chance of keeping their first-round draft pick after winning the tie-breaker with Toronto on Friday, the team announced. As a result, Golden State could end up with four first-round picks.

Golden State and the Raptors finished tied with the seventh-worst record in the NBA. A random drawing held by the NBA in New York broke the tie. The Warriors will be slotted No. 7 entering the draft lottery, and Toronto is slotted No. 8.

Winning the tie-breaker means Golden State has a 12.6 percent chance of moving up into the top three, including a 3.6 percent chance of landing the top pick. There is nearly a 60 percent chance the Warriors will stay at No. 7.

If Golden State lands the eighth pick or lower, it will be sent to Utah based on a trade from 2008. But if the Warriors land a top seven selection, a condition kicks in that allows them to keep the selection and send their 2013 pick to Utah.

The Warriors will find out where they draft at the May 30 draft lottery in Secaucus, N.JNew York. Winning the tie-breaker means Golden State has a 12.6 percent chance of moving up into the top three, including a 3.6 percent chance of landing the top pick. There is nearly a 60 percent chance the Warriors will stay at No. 7.

If the Warriors had lost the tie-breaker, they would have been slotted No. 8. That would have required they move up in the draft lottery into the top three, which the No. 8 slot now has a 12.4 percent chance of doing.

The Warriors were involved in a total of four tie-breakers on Friday, winning three of them. The other three involved the pick from San Antonio Golden State acquired in exchange for Stephen Jackson, and second round picks the Warriors acquired from New Jersey and Atlanta. In addition to potentially getting a top seven pick, the Warriors will select No. 30, 35 and 52. The 30th pick they got from the Spurs. The No. 35 pick they got from New Jersey in the Brandon Wright/Dan Gadzuric for Troy Murphy trade February 2011. The No. 52 pick they bought from Atlanta in March.

Warriors forward David Lee’s torn abdominal and abductor muscles were successfully repaired Thursday by Dr. William Meyers in Philadelphia, the Warriors announced. He is expected to return to basketball activities in 4 to 6 weeks.

Tonight will be Lee’s eighth missed game after an MRI on April 13 found he had a strained groin and a stress reaction. After seeking the second opinion of Dr. Meyers, it was determined Lee needed surgery. It was performed Thursday morning.

So that means Lee and point guard Stephen Curry are expected to be 100 percent healthy by training camp. Center Andrew Bogut will have arthroscopic surgery on Friday to clean out debris and scar tissue in his fractured left ankle.
The surgery will be performed by Dr. Richard Ferkel in Van Nuys, the same specialist who performed arthroscopic surgery on Curry’s right ankle Wednesday.

UPDATE:Warriors announced surgery was successful Wednesday night. According to the team’s release, Curry is expected to return to on-court basketball activities in 3 to 4 months.

Warriors point guard Stephen Curry underwent successful surgery on his right ankle Wednesday in Van Nuys, according to a source with knowledge of Curry’s surgery. The exploratory arthroscopic surgery, performed by Dr. Richard Ferkle, revealed no structural damage.

Dr. Ferkle just cleaned out scar tissue and a few bone spurs. No torn ligaments and the previous surgery — performed last May by OrthoCarolina specialist Dr. Bob Anderson in Charlotte — held up.

Warriors team doctors and specialists are conferring with Ferkle about a rehabilitation plan. A timetable is not yet known, but the results of the surgery were received as good news.

Warriors forward David Lee will have surgery to repair a torn abdominal muscle in Philadelphia, according to team sources.

Lee missed the last seven games with a strained groin and a stress reaction, discovered during an MRI on April 13 that all but forced him out for the rest of the season. Lee went to visit specialist Dr. William Meyers in Philadelphia to have his groin examined. The result is he’ll need surgery to repair the damage.

That the Warriors replaced general manager Larry Riley with protege Bob Myers comes as no shock. The big surprise is the timing.

Why now?

According to multiple team sources, a few factors came into play. The coming draft, and all the ensuing prep work. The pending free agent season, which kicks off July 1, and the Warriors’ need to woo someone though armed with nothing more than a mid-level.

But perhaps the biggest factor, per the sources, was Myers’ as assistant general manager. It was part of the plan for Myers to succeed Riley when they lured Myers from the player agent side of the business a year ago this month. But at the time, co-owner Joe Lacob said Myers was in line for the job after Riley retired “in a few years.”